On Revisions and POV

I’m currently going through a lot of revisions, both for “Princess Cocoa Puff” for Rooster and Pig but also for some publisher-less submissions that I’m going to be finding a home for soon. I love revisions. Maybe that makes me a little weird or atypical, but I do. It’s rare for me to get quality feedback on things I write and when it does come around, I’m so, so grateful for it. I’m still growing as a writer – I think we all are, or at least all of us who are practicing writers – and I’m always on the lookout for things to work on.

My biggest thing in the last round of edits I went through was not getting into the character’s head enough. I write third person omniscient point of view, that’s just my mainstay and I’m pretty stuck on it, but I have a bad habit of not sinking deep enough into the main character’s thoughts. With third person omniscient, we’re both separated from and entwined with the main character. There’s a distance there as we look on from the outside, but to really feel for what the character is doing we need to get into their thoughts. I’m not one with a brain full of constant noise so that’s a little difficult for me. My head’s more of a calm blue ocean of quiet and that gets reflected in my characters, at least on the first write-through. I have to go back in and add what they’re feeling and thinking, to really push into their head so the reader can emphasize.

What about you? What are your most common revision critiques or what’s your POV problems?